a THE WINGS OF INSECTS. 
J. H. COMSTOCK anb J. G. NEEDHAM. 
CHAPTER III (Concluded), 
XII. THE VENATION OF THE WINGS OF COLEOPTERA. 
The determination of the homology of the wing-veins of the 
Coleoptera is a difficult problem, owing to the greatly modified 
structure of the wings. Not only do the wings differ in struc- 
ture from those of any other order of insects, but the two pairs 
of wings are modified in different ways. The fore wings, or 
elytra, have lost their flight-function, and have become thick- 
ened protective organs; while the hind wings are, in most cases, 
transversely folded, which has resulted in a great modification 
of the courses of the veins and in the formation of secondary 
vein-like thickenings of the wing. 
So different is the structure of the elytra from that usually 
characteristic of wings that Meinert 1 was led to believe that 
they were not wings, but greatly enlarged paraptera of the 
mesothorax ; and unfortunately this view was adopted by the 
senior writer in his Manual for the Study of Insects. We have, 
therefore, two questions before us: first, Are the elytra modified 
wings, or not? and, second, What are the homologies of the wing- 
veins ? 
The reasons in support of Meinert’s view are the following: 
the difference in the structure of elytra from that of wings; the 
fact that in the Lepidoptera the paraptera of the mesothorax 
often bear a striking resemblance to elytra (this can be well 
seen by removing the scales from the paraptera, or patagia, as 
they are termed, of a sphinx moth); and the fact that in many 
Coleoptera (e.g., Dytiscus) what appear to be rudiments of the 
fore wings exist beneath the elytra. 
The argument based on the thickened structure of the elytra 
loses its force when we consider the more or less elytra-like 
1 Meinert, F. Zntomologisk Tidskrift, p. 168. 1880. 
